The present invention relates to radar systems and more particularly to a system for instantaneously locking a tracking radar on a desired target.
The instant invention relates to copending application Ser. No. 317,850 for Manual Probe Tracking System, filed Oct. 21, 1963, now U.S. Pat. No. 3,217,320, and provides additional target acquisition capability. The copending application operates only within a relatively small range segment of the full operating range of the radar system. This range segment, called the "acquisition gate", is 10,000 yards, whereas the full operating range of the radars are from zero to approximately 120,000-300,000 yards. The additional probe capability, as described herein, provides operation over the full radar operating range in conjunction with the probe operation within the 10,000 yard range segment provided by copending application Ser. No. 317,850. This invention is designed to provide instantaneous positioning of the acquisition gate at any range within the full operating range of the radar upon the operator's command. The invention is designed to operate with a dual trace display on the radar operator's scope. The upper trace is the added display, while the lower trace is that of copending application Ser. No. 317,850.
The old methods used for positioning the 10,000 yard acquisition gate did not provide the required instantaneous action, ease of operation, accuracy and reliability for operator control. Also, the old methods were relatively complicated and awkward to operate. The prior methods did not provide the operator with the full radar range display together with the 10,000 yard display simultaneously with probe control on the same scope as is provided in the instant invention.